The objective of this work is to investigate the turbulent reacting flow in a three dimensional combustor with emphasis on thermal NO emission through a numerical simulation. Flow field is analyzed using the SIMPLE method which is known as stable as well as accurate in the combustion modeling, and the finite volume method is adopted in solving the radiative transfer equation. In this work, the thermal characteristics and NO emission in a three dimensional combustor by changing parameters such as equivalence ratio and inlet swirl angle have investigated. As the equivalence ratio increases, which means that more fuel is supplied due to a larger inlet fuel velocity, the flame temperature increases and the location of maximum temperature and thermal NO has moved towards downstream. In the mean while, the existence of inlet swirl velocity makes the fuel and combustion air more completely mixed and burnt in short distance. Therefore, the locations of the maximum reaction rate, temperature and thermal NO were shifted to forward direction compared with the case of no swirl.